Completed A Fever Hotter Than The Desert

[Noah Amuel]

A Fever Hotter Than The Desert

35 Winter, 515

Mid Morning

Eyelids parted to welcome the dimly lit room. Candles flickered in the edges of his vision, blurry sleep giving way to clear wakefulness. The Kelvic groaned, turning about on the couch he had dubbed a bed for his nap. On the fringes of his hearing crackled the hearth, warm light illuminating the room, streaming across the floor and against the walls immediately near its flame’s source. The earthy smells of herbs and delicate flowers laced his nostrils as his face was buried in one of the pillows of the couch. He remembered where he was in that moment: Elann’s apartment.

Two days earlier they had collectively made the decision to go hunting to celebrate Elann’s birthday, a day she would not have celebrated otherwise. Still he had almost pleaded her. Celebrating the date of one’s birth was something his family did. It was a day worth celebrating, he thought. A day to look back, happily, on the events happening before the date of one’s birth was reached again, a recognition of one’s ability to survive the mean world they inhabited. Thankfully Elann agreed, later revealing her reasoning to be that she was inspired by his tale of his mother, Isabella, and her bondmate, Lanna, a huntress.

In truth the tale inspired him too because he hoped that Elann would become his equivalent to his mother’s Lanna, but the dream was far off. Elann was not huntress, not yet at least, and he was not the predator of his mother’s caliber. It would take the two of them a while to become as proficient as he prayed they would one day become. However, training had to be put on hold. Elann was sick. On their hunting trip just outside the gates of Syliras it had been snowing and the temperature had dropped considerably in comparison to the autumn season. It appeared that when the blue fires atop the watchtowers flared up, so too came the winter storms and freezing cold.

He had grown used to the freezing temperatures, having been a resident of Syliras for what was his third year now. Elann, unfortunately, was experiencing her first Syliran winter. He wondered how she would fair, considering she originated from the deserts of Mizahar, not the forest and plains that he was used to. It would an interesting spectacle, that much was for sure.

He came to an upright sit on the edge of the couch, hands coming to wipe the sleep from his eyes, fingers dragging heavily across his face afterwards until they fell from his chin to his lap. A sleepy breath was inhaled, steeling him to stand and face the rest of the morning he tried to nap through. He let his head drop back, exhaling the breath he took before pushing himself to stand, aided entirely by his legs. He cleared his throat, dragging a hand over his throat. His feet stepped quietly towards Elann’s bedroom door, a slight crack separating the door from its frame.

When he had first come over she was up and about, stubbornly insisting upon cleaning, tidying, sewing, or cooking. The night they spent apart had apparently taking its toll on the young Benshiran woman, death appearing to be lurking right outside her door should she take one misstep. At first he insisted she go to bed, gentle as his voice was when regarding her, she did not listen. She countered each of his phrases of worry with one of her own, waving him off as if he was exaggerating. Finally, having enough, he took on a stern stance and voice, insisting once more that she go to acquire the bedrest he believed she needed. She heeded his words then, heading towards her room with a mocking word of playful jest despite her condition.

He followed her to her doorway where he pointed to the bed, giving her the most serious look he could muster. It was a hard thing to do, taking on sternness and seriousness when with her, but he believed it was for her own good. If she was to die before her time, her stubbornness would be to blame, he knew as much.

At the doorway again, this time to check on her after his own unexpected nap, he pushed the door open with ginger fingers, unsure of what exactly he was about to reveal.

[Elann]

.

Elann was utterly amazed at the sternness of her bondmate. She was not some dominating woman, seeking to rule men. She wanted to be bossed about, but it didn't mean she wasn't stubborn. Still, his determination wore her down and to bed she had gone. It was hard at first to go to sleep, her discomfort made her toss and turn, but once she had found just the right spot, the lights went out.

Fortunately what she had was a simple cold. It was no horrendous fever or something that would keep her down long, but it did for right now. As Noah peered into the room Elann appeared to be in deep sleep. Her hair was pressed to her face, flat compared to its normal springy self as if she had sat in a steam bath, and her cheeks seemed to be flush with heat. Still, no sweat was seen on her, just a sheen of her natural oily skin, revealed by the heat of the blankets that covered her for the most part. In her shifting the blanket had become untucked and now the tips of her small toes could be seen poking out from underneath the edge of the blankets.

As he looked to her, though she slept, it seemed like she was cold. The heat of the fire with the door closed didn't reach her and had made the room cool. What was left in the heater that contained coals at the foot of her bed had gone out and subconsciously she had held her blanket extremely tight to her body. His piercing eyes that never seemed to miss any detail they were focused upon also would see her lower jaw shivering a tiny bit. There was no other blanket in sight though; no easy answer for him.

The room was dark, having the curtains pulled taut and giving her a simulation of night, yet at the foot of Elann's bed was a decently sized chest, large enough for what likely could be a place to store blankets that could be seen. There was no lock on its hinge and looked like it could be opened quite easily. He had seen it before when placing her to bed the last couple times he had been in her room, but now it provided the most logical place currently for her to keep a blanket. The fire in the hearth of her living room had diminished greatly since Noah had fallen asleep, only seeming to heat the immediate area and to the extent of the couch, but reached no further than that, falling short of the bedroom.

The chest, should he try to open it, would at first seem to open easily, but as he opened it further, it would send out a shrill squeak as the misaimed hinges ground against each other, causing Elann to stir and awaken.

Other's Words ~~ My Words ~~ My Thoughts

[Noah Amuel]

A frown came upon his face as he pushed the door open, the slight squeak of the hinges resounding in the air around him. Elann had went to sleep, like he wanted, but she was freezing, that much was apparent due to the minute shudder of her body underneath the blankets. As he stepped into the room his feet were greeted with the coolness of stone, cooler than the floor in the front room. He drifted, careful to not make any noises besides his breath and own subconscious shuddering as his body’s warmth was slowly robbed from him. Now standing at the side of the bed, he looked over her, eyes trailing from her uncharacteristically flat hair draping over her face, which looked better than earlier in the morning, to her body beneath the blanket, then to the peeping of her toes at the tail end. He regarded her with a look of caring concern.

To him, she appeared to be freezing, and the only cure for that in his mind was more heat. Blankets provided that. He looked up then around the room, no obvious place for blankets to be seen. Would she even have extra blankets, he wondered. Nearly tiptoeing to not wake her, he moved from the side of the bed to the foot of it. He didn’t want to pry into her belongings, another tacit rule of his, but he needed to find the blankets to keep her warm. Her wellbeing overpowered his sense of rationality. He spun in place, slowly surveying the room once more. Her vanity was nudged in the corner, her wardrobe on the wall beside it. Neither had drawers or cabinets big enough to house the blankets, he thought.

Then he looked down, discovering the large chest. It was large enough to house what he was looking for so he knelt down in place, reaching for the chest as he did so. His hands with over where the lid met the body of the chest, searching from the latch with his fingers, eyes on Elann as he did so. Once found, he looked down at what he was doing and pulled. Surprisingly the lid lift easily at first, but then, faced with peculiar resistance, he had to pull up harder. A fright jumped into his heart as the squeal of old hinges sounded through the room. Instantaneously his eyes were on Elann again, her body slightly stirring beneath the covers. If it wasn’t his fright that woke her, it was the chest’s shouts of antiquity.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “You looked cold so I wanted to get you more blankets and I didn’t know where they were so I came to the chest and,” he trailed off. “Do you even keep blankets in here?”

[Elann]

.

The squeal sounded out through the room piercing over the sickness that had fogged her mind as she slept. Upon waking at first a little moan bordering on the lines of a whine came from her. Her toes immediately began to wriggle as if they did so every time she woke up, but as she felt the cold flesh of one foot touch the other, she grew rapidly more awake and tucked her feet inside the blanket.

A voice came from Noah in the form of a whisper, drawing her sickened eyes to slowly crack open. She had not felt sick in a long time, not one exactly prone to illness, and it was not a pleasant way to wake up. Another moan came from her, more audible and far closer to a whine at her present feelings. Slowly she lifted her head and looked down at him. Her once beautiful features now were crushed from her face down turned into the pillow and her hair was a wild mess on the right side of her face where it had been up against the bed.

"Hmm?" she asked as she propped herself up on her side. It seemed at first she didn't hear him, but then as his words began to make sense in her slowly translating mind, she spoke in a groggy voice. "Yes. There is a blanket in there." Her lungs, still were accustomed to breathing deeply in sleep, but now that she had awoke, they were needing more air. She took in a deep breath and laid back onto her back, bending her body beneath her blanket in a half stretch with arms raised up to press hands against her growing headache. Once more her feet popped out from under the blankets to curl and flare with the good feelings of the stretch before zipping quickly back underneath.

"I still feel sick," she murmured with a little shiver as she pulled her blanket up over her shoulders, tucking it in about her neck. The increased speaking caused her to cough a little bit; not like clearing her throat, but like a sickened person with phlegm in their throats. It was clear from her voice that her nose was stuffed. She had a series of cloths he had put next to her bed for that purpose of wiping but she hadn't used any of them yet. Now that she was awake though, she reached over to grab the soft fabric and to lightly dab her nose.

Other's Words ~~ My Words ~~ My Thoughts

[Noah Amuel]

An inquisitive hum came from her in reply to his question, asking one of her own as she propped herself on her side. Before he could repeat his question though she had answered it, thinking it over in her sleep veiled head. Her voice was still gripped by a mixture of sleep and sickness, but, in his eyes, she looked better than she did earlier in the morning, despite her wild hair and smooshed face. He still thought her pretty, if not moreso.

He nodded at her answer and continued to open the chest, the creak not bothering him as much since she was now awake. Once opened enough he grabbed the blanket he now saw and pulled it from the chest, letting the lid drop with a ka-thunk. He rose to stand, moving to the side of the bed again as she stretched. Her stretched caused him to stop, slanting his head in curiousity. He smiled subconsciously at her actions. He had never seen her in that state, the moments after sleep while sick. It made her appear small, capable of being adored without hinderance as he wished he could do.

Once her stretching subsided she stated that she still felt sick, a sick person’s cough coming from her afterwards. Her shiver didn’t go unnoticed. He began to open up the blanket then throw it over her, making sure to include her feet in the hopefully comforting mass. “You look better,” he said, shifting the blanket atop her to include all of her being. “Why didn’t you call for me if you didn’t feel well?” he asked. “All you have to do is wish it and I’ll come, no matter where I’m at. It’s a part of the bond.”

He wasn’t sure if she knew that already or not. What he had told her about the bond and what he hadn’t started to blur together amidst the haze of the passing days. “Do you feel any better?” He came to a squat beside her, leveling himself out to her level of view so she didn’t have to look up at him. “Need anything?”

[Elann]

.

Her nose began to be clogged more and more the longer she was awake, as if it knew she was able to breath out of her mouth now and it had to get rid of all the sickness that threatened her, and now was dripping down, tickling her throat. A hand came up to rest on her forehead in weak manner and another moan escaped her through her nose with closed mouth. His questions caused her to shift to face him, seeing him lower himself so she could view him more easily. A small smile came over her face and she let out a little chuckle, showing she was still in that sickened shell somewhere.

Despite the dim nature of the room, still her eyes seemed to have an unnatural glimmer to them, revealing them in the darkness as something more than normal human eyes. They were not of the same brilliance as when out in the sunlight, but they still held a gem-like quality to their beauty.

"I have a headache..." she said in response to him asking how she felt. The admission not easily coming out of her as she wished she could take care of herself. Though he could feel the insistent stubbornness within her to get up subside in light of his previous assertive behavior. "I could use some tea I think. Maybe with some of my honey." A hand snaked out of the blanket and she said after a pause, "I suppose I'm a bit too stubborn sometimes hmm? I didn't want to pull you like that unless it's something serious. I knew you could feel how I felt; probably feeling a bit sick yourself hmm?" She reached out with her clean hand, not having touched any diseased cloth with it and rested a hand upon his neck.

She had a voice of concern, speaking with feelings of care for his own well being. She supposed this sickness among other things would be one of the downsides of the bond between them. Fortunately nothing as serious as what had happened to Lanna was going on between them, such as Elann dying, but as she touched Noah's neck, it would be easy to perceive that she was by the pure cold of her skin. She felt like she had her hands shoved in ice for the past hour before placing them on his neck; clammy and cold like dead flesh. The room had taken its toll against her core temperature, and now she was freezing at the core.

Other's Words ~~ My Words ~~ My Thoughts

[Noah Amuel]

Elann’s smile, small as it was, made his own reappear. Her chuckle caused his head to tilt in question again. He wondered what she found funny. The gleam of her eyes reached his. Momentarily, in their brief quiet after his question, he floated away in the deep ocean of her orbs. Her coming voice, declaring that she had a headache, brought him to. His eyes shifted to focus better on the entirety of her face and not just her eyes, his ears opening to listen to her. Her voice drawled on in the determination he was used to hearing.

He nodded at her request for tea, watching her hand snake its way from under the blankets towards him as she spoke of her stubbornness and his well being. The shocking cold of her hand made him jump and reach for the hand placed on his neck. He removed it, wrapping it in both of his own hands. The warmth of his hands ran across hers but it proved to be futile, the icy fingers stealing what red warmth they could from his flesh. He relented through the growing cold to consider her words, eyes fleeing from her face to their hands.

“I felt your discomfort in my sleep. I woke up because I was freezing even though my skin was warm.” He smiled, still looking downward. “I figured you were to blame so I came over and I was right.” He laughed at himself, looking up at her then. If she was observant enough she could tell that he was tired, the space directly under his eyes darkened by the lack of sleep. He was not an early bird, funnily enough, but he had been awakened from his sleep early enough in the morning to warrant the need for more resting relaxation. It explained his nap on Elann’s couch at least.

“Since you’re awake, do you want to come into the other room? It’s warmer there than in here. We can bring the blankets too and make you a little bed while I make you some tea and light the fire again.” He moved to give her hand back to her, pushing it towards the bed where she rested. “How’s that sound?”

[Elann]

.

At the recoil of his neck to her gesture, a smile lit up in her face. Perhaps it was the amusement of his torment by it that brought it up in her, or just the face he made. Either way, she found it humorous how quickly he jumped and was repulsed by her cold hand. It was sweet how he took in and pull her hand into the warmth of his. Feelings of contentment and warm rushed through her, peacefully enjoying the contact with him. His words, "I figured you were to blame..." made a bit of mirth rise in her.

"I'm sorry," she said nasally with a bit of a chuckle behind her comment. She couldn't readily see that he was tired in the dim light of the room and with her headache pounding her, but she felt as if he was through the bond. The same grogginess and desire for relaxation probably had been the final stroke that had put her to sleep previously. Her toes were still frozen cold despite being in the blanket, so when he suggested coming into the living room, she nodded, pleased by the idea.

"That sounds very good. I am freezing in here."

Slowly, she drew herself up onto an elbow now that he had returned her hand to her. Elann sniffled a bit as her freed hand snaked to wrap the blanket around herself at the chest. She had closed the door behind her for a moment to change earlier when he told her to go lay down. She had changed into a nightgown and hid under the blankets when he had come in previously to ensure she was all set and gave her the cloths to wipe her nose; so in her eyes, even though she was not revealing at all in the nightgown, she was far more revealing than she'd like to be in front of Noah.

"Give me a few moments to change and I'll come out."

She wouldn't take no for an answer. A little bit of embarrassment filtered through her and as she sat up further, wrapping the blanket about her body fully. She sat in style of having her legs crossed underneath her, awaiting him to leave. Once he was gone, the blanket fell. Placing her hands on her head, she attempted physically support her efforts to mentally fight her growing headache.

After a few seconds sitting there, she turned a knee toward her right, uncrossing her legs, and slipped from the bed. It was freezing and the rug under her bed helped, but even it was cold. Retrieving her tunic, she set it on the bed and then undressed. The biting cold made her hands shake and wrap about her as she with little picks at the tunic, much like a beak, tugged at it repeatedly before snaking back about her for more temporary warmth. Eventually the long tunic was opened and ready to place over her head. Quickly she wrapped the cool fabric about her and tied it with her father's rainbow colored cloth belt. Now she was ready.

"Okay, chang--" she sputtered out and was sent into a coughing fit. As she coughed, she sat back on the bed. She took in a deep deep breath as the pain shot up into her head, making it throb. "Ughhh..." she voiced in pain in between shivers. Slowly her hand slid down to the nightgown at her side on the bed, willing to put it away before Noah managed to come in to check on her. Enduring the pain and horrible feeling in her head, she moved moved to return the nightgown from where she retrieved it from initially and closed the drawer. A moment later she was seen heading out of the bedroom and flopped face first onto the couch. She swung her bare feet up onto It and tucked her arms in at her side for warmth. This was not behavior she normally would do, but she was just so cold she didn't care.

Other's Words ~~ My Words ~~ My Thoughts

[Noah Amuel]

He stood at Elann’s request for a moment to change her clothing, nodding as he distanced himself from the bed before slipping through the doorway entirely, closing the door behind him as he did so. Sometimes he couldn’t understand her, or humans for that matter. She had seen him in the nude, bare of body, when she bathed him while he was injured, yet he never saw her not fully dressed. Privacy, embarrassment, and shame was an odd thing to him. There was no shame in displaying the naturalness of the self, unhindered by manmade fabrics. He perished the thought, stepping from her closed door and walking towards the hearth.

She had asked for tea and he would make it. It wasn’t an impossible thing, the task seemed rather simple as he had observed of his mother and Elann before. There was a black tea kettle with a handle attached to it hooked on the outside of the hearth near the top. He reached for it, pulled it off its hook, his hands suddenly heavy with black stone, and walked it over to her water well where he filled it. He figured the waning flames of the fire could wait to be restoked until he put the kettle in place over it. He didn’t want to risk the rising heat burning his hands.

With the kettle filled he walked back to the hearth where a hook placed lowly in the firebox could be seen. He reached out, heat grazing across his skin, to place the kettle by its handle on the hook where it suspended in place above the smoldering flame. Afterwards he went to his knees, eyebrows quirking at the sound of Elann’s bedroom door opening and her tumbling out of it. A flop was heard behind him, the couch’s cushions releasing a subtle whooshing of air as it grew accustomed to her body weight, what of it she had.

Stoking a fire was something that Noah had never done by himself before. When he was young the fire was always created and maintained by his parents or his older siblings, never himself without their supervision. Recalling the steps that his elders took to create a fire, he reached for the logs beside the hearth but made sure to stick to the thinner of the bunch, remember that the kindling was all too important a foundation to grow the fire enough so that bigger logs could be added. Safely he moved the thinner logs and sticks into the ashes and coals of the waning fire. He stood again, turning to face the young Benshiran woman on the couch. He observed her with the musings of a smile upon his face. Her behavior was especially peculiar this day, moreso than the others. Perhaps it was Noah’s own socially borderline unacceptable way of presenting himself that was creeping itself into Elann. He couldn’t tell, but he believed her too set in her ways to be influenced by him.

Without a word to her, just an air of amusement, he walked into her room to retrieve the blankets on the bed, swooping up two in his arms then returning to the front room. He placed one blanket on the chair that complimented the sofa in its own way and spread the other out over Elann, whose tucked under arms and lazy position denoted that she still didn’t feel well. As the first blanket settled he went about opening and fanning the other over her, wide arm span aiding in the action tremendously. Once done he moved back to the hearth and knelt in front of it again, judging the girth of the fire to determine if it was healthy enough for the bigger logs. It didn’t appear like it so he returned to the chair and couch combination, sitting in the chair, legs tucked underneath him.

He looked over to Elann, the single swivel of his head giving him the view he needed. “It should start to warm up,” he said towards her, unable to see her face. “Then I’ll make your tea. Would you like anything else after that?”

[Elann]

.

The clanking sound of Noah by the hearth told her he was still working at setting everything right. With face down in the cushion of the couch, she could also hear him working with the wood. Elann's toes dug into the couch cushion, almost seeking to burrow out any additional coverage over her bare feet she could find. Shortly after, she could hear him shuffling to her room and already the tingles of the air from him moving reached her.

Shortly thereafter he spread a blanket over her, a nice semi-warmed blanket. A 'hmm' of pleasure came out of her and she snuggled into it. "Warm blanket." She said into the fabric to herself cutely as he went about spreading the second one. Her sniffles started up again an she rotated to the side, propping a couch throw pillow under her head so she could watch him.

The additional blanket, and the little bit of extra heat in the room made her much more comfortable. He set to work at getting her fire up and going once more and she admired him for doing so. Slowly she burrowed her face into the blankets, having them wrapped up over her head and pressed into her face so that her nose wouldn't be so cold. His voice came from the chair close by and she peeled down the blanket so that she could see him.

"Okay," she sniffled at him. "I'll be fine after that I'm sure. I will just need my cloths by the bed," she said with a sniffle.

Now she could see him in more light. The lack of sleep she potentially caused him seemed to wear him down a bit physically. As she looked to him in the chair, she could just picture him falling asleep in its cushion.

"You look like you didn't sleep much..." came her voice from underneath the blanket, eyes and runny nose just out far enough to see him. Her voice though was loud enough to be heard through the fabric surrounding her as she didn't want to have to repeat it.

"Is the snow still falling outside?" she asked idly, knowing it hadn't stopped earlier, perhaps now that the sun had come out it pushed the clouds away?

Other's Words ~~ My Words ~~ My Thoughts